Monday, June 25. 2018

Girls exposed to chemicals commonly found in toothpaste, makeup, soap, and other personal care products before birth may hit puberty earlier

This is as per a new longitudinal study led by researchers at UC Berkeley.

"Over the past 20 years, studies have shown that girls and possibly boys have been experiencing puberty at progressively younger ages. This is troubling news, as earlier age at puberty has been linked with increased risk of mental illness, breast, and ovarian cancer in girls and testicular cancer in boys.

Researchers in the School of Public Health found that daughters of mothers who had higher levels of diethyl phthalate and triclosan in their bodies during pregnancy experienced puberty at younger ages. The same trend was not observed in boys."

Toothpaste and hand wash may contribute to antibiotic resistance

I have been advocating that toothpaste and mouthwashes should be totally avoided by everyone. This new study exposes an even more dangerous eventuality from their use:

19 June 2018A common ingredient in toothpaste and hand wash could be contributing to antibiotic resistance, according to University of Queensland research.

A study led by Dr Jianhua Guo from UQ’s Advanced Water Management Centre focused on triclosan, a compound used in more than 2000 personal care products.

Dr Guo said while it was well-known the overuse and misuse of antibiotics could create ‘superbugs’, researchers were unaware that other chemicals could also induce antibiotic resistance until now.

"Wastewater from residential areas has similar or even higher levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes compared to hospitals, where you would expect greater antibiotic concentrations,” he said.

Comment: Health workers are supposed to wash their hands for a full minute between each patient. Can you imagine how many resistant organisms must be generated by such procedures? A well-washed hand could actually be introducing antibiotic-resistant organisms into patients!

Saturday, January 24. 2015

The one thing that mouthwash CANNOT DO is to give you healthy gums or a fresh breath. If anything it will cause serious gum disease and early loss of your teeth by killing off the symbiotic commensal bacteria in your mouth.

I could not help quoting from an article in the Guardian newspaper on allergies the following paragraph:

"The body learns about its environment after it is born by coming into contact with an array of substances, everything from the bacteria we are smothered in as we travel down the birth canal to the breast milk we are fed on. After that, proximity to animals and natural environments makes it more likely that we will be exposed to a wide variety of bacterial life, in the air, on the ground, and in our diet. All of these help populate our bodies, but particularly our gut, [and our mouths] with microbiota. This is such an important part of being human that microbiota outnumber us within our own bodies: humans are made up of something between 27 trillion and 37 trillion cells, but we carry about 100 trillion of these organisms within us. We are astonishingly complex ecosystems. The “old friends” or hygiene hypothesis postulates that modern life has compromised our microbiome".

The mouth is an important conduit for the entry of bacteria into our gut. Destroying the bacteria in the mouth results not only in serious periodontal problems but serious infections in the throat, the Eustachian tubes, the secreting canals of the salivary glands, lung infections and Gastrointestinal problems.

The danger emanating from these mouthwashes is getting worse. Below is a story from the New York Times about another contaminant added to Colgate Mouthwash which already has the carcinogen triclosan.

The Amercan Society of Dermatology named methylisothiazolinone (MI) its “allergen of the year” in 2013, a listing intended to give attention to problematic and often obscure substances. Because she has an eczema condition, Michelle Kirn intently reads ingredient labels on baby wipes, soaps and other household items to avoid allergic reactions that she says were caused by a commonly used preservative.

Ms. Kirn, 37, says she believes that nerve damage and scarring to her hands stemmed from using wipes that contained the preservative methylisothiazolinone, or MI.

Still, when her throat began to swell, she says she did not think to check the label of her new mouthwash, Colgate Total Lasting White.

That same year, the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety, a European advisory group, said that MI should be used only in limited quantities for rinse-off products, like soaps and shampoos, and that “no safe concentrations” existed for leave-on products like lotions.

Mouthwash Use and Risk of Diabetes

"Many people in the UK use mouthwash on a regular basis. Recently, a longitudinal study conducted in Puerto Rico that monitored overweight and obese adults over a three-year period (which included periodontal and oral hygiene assessments) concluded that those using mouthwash twice daily or more at baseline had an approximately 50% increased risk of developing prediabetes/diabetes combined, compared to those who used mouthwash less than twice daily or not at all. The proposed mechanism to explain this is that mouthwash has antibacterial effects in the oral cavity, yet oral bacteria play an important role in the salivary nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide pathway, and reduced levels of nitric oxide are associated with insulin resistance as well as adverse cardiovascular effects such as hypertension and impaired vascular function.

In this article, the important role of oral bacteria in the production of nitric oxide is discussed, and the findings of the Puerto Rican study are considered in detail. It is important that dental professionals are aware of emerging research on this topic as patients frequently ask for advice on use of mouthwash as part of their oral hygiene regime."

Tuesday, August 12. 2014

It has been more than 30 years since I first started preaching that no one should use toothpaste or mouthwashes. It has been known for a very long time that many toothpastes and mouthwashes contain some nasty ingredients in addition to carcinogenic substances.

The main damage they do presently is to CAUSE more GUM DISEASE so that you will use more and more toothpaste and mouthwashes trying to rid yourself of the putrid smell they cause in your mouth.
The first damage they cause is by killing all the good and bad bacteria and allowing resistant faecal organisms to flourish which not only give you a foul breath but also cause serious gum disease.

The second damage is caused by secondary throat, parotid gland canal and nasopharyngeal tube infections.

The third nail in the coffin is from the ingredients which cause cancer.

The Parotid gland duct which lies on the inside of the cheek is susceptible to secondary infection from toothpaste and mouth wash use.

The nasopharyngeal tube (Eustachian tube) communicates between the ear and the throat and is susceptible to infections.

Enlarged tonsils from secondary infections following toothpaste and mouthwash use. This seriously compromises the airway during sleep.

We have also noted that patients who wear partial prosthesis and removable orthodontic appliances often complain about their very smelly appliances. You may be pleased to note that this only happens in patients who continue to use toothpaste. It does not happen in cases where salt solution is used to clean the teeth.

This Bloomberg article confirms what has been reported for very many years.
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This New York Times article dated August 2011 raised similar concerns but no action was taken by the makers of the toothpaste.

Papers released under the freedom of information act the featured Bloomberg report comments:

"The recently released pages, taken alongside new research on triclosan, raise questions about whether the agency did appropriate due diligence in approving Total 17 years ago, and whether its approval should stand in light of new research.

The damage from Triclosan may not be apparent immediately. It may take 3 months of use before one starts seeing periodontal damage. Most manufacturers base their studies on much shorter duration of use on which the FDA relies for its approval process.

A newer article by Dr Mercola sheds more light on the hormone disrupting and cancer causing abilities of Triclosan.

The bactericidal property is the danger in the first place. The carcinogenic activity comes later.

In our practice we specialise in making you free of gum disease and helping you get rid of toothpaste and mouthwash. Oral cancer statistics, although not blaming toothpaste, show that it is on the rise and requires a serious rethink about our tooth cleaning attitudes:

Colgate just sent this email invitation: (5th Setember 2014)

"Colgate Total® with triclosan is the toothpaste most recommended and used by dental professionals in the USA, as well as one of the most extensively tested and researched toothpastes in the world.

Ninety clinical studies, 20,000 subjects and 20 years of research support its clinical efficacy. It has been accepted by the American Dental Association and more than 40 other national dental associations and has been reviewed and approved by regulatory bodies worldwide. Recent media reports have questioned its safety and approval by the US Food and Drug Administration. The purpose of this course is to provide oral health professionals with a sound understanding of the toxicology and safety of triclosan as used in Colgate Total®. This knowledge will help the practitioner to respond to patients’ needs and discuss any questions raised.

Participants will learn:

Understand the science supporting the safe use of triclosan in Colgate Total toothpaste
Discuss the safety of triclosan in Colgate Total toothpaste
Discuss media reports based on facts and science
Understand basic principles of toxicology

Target audience: Dentists, Hygienists."

As you can see they have NO INTENTION of removing the carcinogenic Triclosan from tooth paste. Your personal safety is in your own hands.

Tiny plastic microbeads in toothpaste:
Monday, September 15, 2014
CHICAGO (WLS) --
The I-Team investigated plastic in some toothpastes - an ingredient that most people have no idea is there - and there are questions about how it might affect your dental health.

There is no end to the dangers of tooth paste!

The latest article from Dr Mercola confirms what I have been saying for 30 years:

"[P]athogens have been redefined since the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) in 2002. Pathogens are now being recognized as resident microbes that are out of balance," Dr. Curatola explains.

”When they’re under attack, they hunker down, they flick a switch... What we’re recognizing is that the same bacteria that keep us alive can have a pathogenic expression when disturbed. I have been kind of tooting the horn about getting out of the 'pesticide business.' I’m also speaking about natural pesticides.

Not just triclosan, clorhexidine, and those synthetic types, but also tea tree oil, tulsi oil, oregano oil and other antimicrobial oils that, albeit they’re herbal, they have a potent disturbing effect on the oral microbiome.

In the mouth, you don’t want to have a 'scorched earth policy' or nuking all the bacteria and hoping the good bugs come back.

What we found in our research is that good bugs basically have a harder chance of setting up a healthy-balanced microbiome when you disturb them, denature them, or dehydrate them with alcohol-based products."

Mouthwashes 'can raise risk of heart attack and strokes': Antiseptic gargles kill good bacteria that help keep blood pressure down

says an article in the Daily Mail.
Using a mouthwash is a ‘disaster’ for health, increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes, scientists are warning.
Swilling kills off ‘good’ bacteria that help blood vessels relax – so increasing blood pressure.
When healthy volunteers used Corsodyl, a brand containing a powerful antiseptic, their blood pressure rose within hours.
Professor Amrita Ahluwalia, who led the study, last night condemned the widespread use of antiseptic mouthwash.
She said: ‘Killing off all these bugs each day is a disaster, when small rises in blood pressure have significant impact on morbidity and mortality from heart disease and stroke.’....."It kills microbes needed to help create nitrite, essential for blood vessels to dilate properly [which helps BP stay low]. But the mouthwash caused nitrite production in the mouth to fall by over 90 per cent, and blood nitrite to fall by 25 per cent."